Chapter 2011: Not Helping
They were clearly a family staying under the same roof, yet the atmosphere was even colder than that between strangers meeting for the first time. Even strangers would give each other friendly nods and acknowledge each other.
The father and daughter’s relationship had undergone a drastic change, and it had not gone unnoticed by Ding Jiayi. But now, Ding Jiayi had too many things to worry about. As such, she had no time to persuade Qiao Zijin to stop throwing a tantrum toward Qiao Dongliang or to counsel Qiao Dongliang and convince him to understand Qiao Zijin’s situation.
All three of them understood that their relationships were at a standstill but not a single one of them was willing to take the first step in order to warm up the familial relationships.
On the second day of Jiajia’s middle school examination, Qiao Nan once again received Qiao Dongliang’s text message. Now, Qiao Nan had already gotten used to receiving at least one text message a day from Qiao Dongliang. As such, she took her phone out to look at the message. But when she finished reading the message, her expression changed, and her smile turned into a frown.
The text might have been from Qiao Dongliang, but Qiao Nan knew from the message that it had definitely not been written by her father. After thinking about it, Qiao Nan sent a reply. “Do you want to embarrass everyone by creating trouble? Go ahead. Brother Zhai and I may not even live in Ping Cheng after getting married.”
Brother Zhai had always been stationed in the capital. After getting married, Brother Zhai would probably be fully recuperated. Qiao Nan knew that they would leave Ping Cheng for the capital. As such, Qiao Nan was not afraid just because Ding Jiayi was threatening her and trying to force her into meeting her.
If Ding Jiayi had the money and energy and was even willing to chase her across the country, she would truly take her hat off to Ding Jiayi.
After seeing the reply, Ding Jiayi flew into such a rage that her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Ding Jiayi’s hands trembled so much that she nearly dropped Qiao Dongliang’s phone onto the floor.
At the sight of Ding Jiayi’s response, Qiao Zijin had pretty much guessed that Qiao Nan had given an unsatisfactory response, but she still took the phone over from Ding Jiayi’s hands. “Aiyo, she really does sound like someone who has found a meal ticket for herself. That’s why she’s so bold with her words. Mom, are you sure that Qiao Nan is really still Qiao Nan? Do you think the Qiao Nan of the past would have dared to say such things?”
No matter how upset Ding Jiayi was, she was still unwilling to believe such things. “That’s dumb! It’s alright for you to say this in front of me but you’d better not say that in front of your dad or that wretched girl. Think about it. If that wretched girl isn’t our family’s wretched girl, let’s not even talk about being afraid. Since she isn’t the wretched girl, there’s no way she’ll treat me as her mom or you as her sister.”
It would definitely benefit them if Qiao Nan were to marry into a good family.
No matter how she looked at it, Qiao Nan was still Qiao Nan. How could she have become another person? Qiao Zijin had truly read too many novels and watched too many television dramas. If that person was not Qiao Nan, then the Qiao family would not get a single cent no matter how good the family that woman married into was. How could Zijin, as a university student, not understand such simple logic?
Qiao Zijin’s expression stiffened. She had indeed forgotten about that. “Don’t worry, Mom. I remember everything you’ve taught me. I won’t make that mistake. Besides, I was probably just brought astray by those television dramas and novels. How could Qiao Nan not be Qiao Nan? If she isn’t Qiao Nan, how could she understand our family’s situation so well?”
She had already encountered a lot of trouble in her life because Qiao Nan was no longer as easily controlled as she had been in the past. If that person was not even Qiao Nan, she would be the first person in trouble. Her mom was right. From her point of view, there was no way Qiao Nan could get into any accidents. Otherwise, she would be the one suffering the most.
Qiao Nan was still Qiao Nan, and Qiao Nan had to take care of the Qiao family and her parents. Qiao Nan had better not try to shirk away from these responsibilities. If Qiao Nan was no longer Qiao Nan, this family would have nothing to do with Qiao Nan. Since Qiao Nan had nothing to do with the family, all these responsibilities would naturally fall to her.
Qiao Zijin hit her own head, deciding not to spend her free time on those novels again. If not for those novels, she would never have come up with such a ridiculous idea.
Fiction was nothing more than fiction. Reality was reality.
“Then again, what should we do, Mom? Given her tone, it’s obvious that she won’t be of any help.” After such a long time, the matter of her becoming a civil servant still remained unresolved.
“What are you afraid of? Just go for the examination and leave the rest to me.” Even if Qiao Nan said that she was not going to help out, could Qiao Nan really get rid of their relationship and not interfere? No, she would let Qiao Nan know with her actions that she would never get her way. She would simply use Qiao Nan’s name to solve the issue. Qiao Nan did not even need to appear.
If she succeeded in doing so, she would not even need to worry about Qiao Nan being unfilial to her in the future. She would be able to make Qiao Nan treat her as the empress and support her as she had done in the past. Qiao Nan would have to listen to whatever she said and keep them in mind.
Qiao Zijin furrowed her brows. Her mom seemed to have come up with a solution but she would not bother about it anymore. She had already put forth a disclaimer, so whatever happened afterward would depend on her mother’s performance.
After deciding to leave everything to Ding Jiayi, Qiao Zijin was in a relaxed mood. Even if she decided never to read her novels again, she would never get bored with the television and computer at home.
In the blink of an eye, Jiajia had completed her middle school examination, and the first day that Jiajia was free happened to be Qiao Nan and Zhai Sheng’s wedding day.
“Wow, auntie. You look beautiful in that red dress. I’ve seen so many white wedding dresses, but today, I realized that our country’s red wedding dress is beautiful as well! Your hairdo is exquisite too! It looks like those I see in television dramas.” Jiajia could not help but get envious. All young ladies liked looking beautiful, after all. Seeing Qiao Nan made Jiajia green with envy.
Jiajia decided inwardly that she would follow in Qiao Nan’s footsteps instead of wearing a white wedding dress when she got married in the future. White western wedding dresses were no match for their Chinese red wedding dresses. People really did not appreciate them enough.
Miao Jing nodded in agreement. “Our Jiajia has such good judgment. That’s right. The red wedding dress looks really festive and beautiful!” It was a pity that she had not been able to wear a red wedding dress during her wedding to Old Zhai. At that time, the green military uniform was already good enough for her, let alone a red wedding dress.